Beastbound: How Arm-Powered Sanctuary Trials Work in VR

Beastbound is a movement game you play in a VR headset. You enter a compact creature sanctuary and cross it with your arms — climbing, swinging and vaulting from hold to hold until you reach the gate.

This post explains what Beastbound is, how the movement works and who it suits. It is coming soon on aeternusvita.io. You can get notified from the product page when it is ready.

What Beastbound is

Beastbound is a movement game for a VR headset. The one-line pitch from the Play listing says: "Climb, swing and vault through three creature trials in VR." The subtitle is "Arm-powered sanctuary trials".

The long description from the en-GB listing gives the shape: "Beastbound is a movement game for a VR headset. You enter a compact creature sanctuary and cross it with your arms. You climb and swing, then vault towards the next hold. Collect sigils on the way, and reach the gate. You move as a creature. Each trial is small enough to learn by running it again."

The listing closes with: "Beastbound is made by aeternusvita.io. Three compact trials, from the first hold to the gate."

The feature list from the Play copy is the full scope:

• Cross sanctuaries with your arms
• Climb, swing and vault to the gate
• Three compact trials with sigils
• Time medals and collection medals
• Restart from a checkpoint
• Watch a ghost of a previous run

The brief lists the audience as movement-game players and the hook as "Arm-powered traversal through compact creature sanctuaries".

How arm-powered movement works

You move as a creature and cross the sanctuary with your arms. The brief sums the loop as: "Enter trial → climb/swing/vault → collect sigils → reach gate."

Climb, swing and vault are the three actions that carry you forward. You climb and swing, then vault towards the next hold. Each hold is the next point to aim for, and each vault carries you towards it. The feature line repeats it: "Climb, swing and vault to the gate."

The brief names three pillars: "Expressive arms", "Momentum mastery" and "Fast restarts". Your arms are the input, how you chain a swing into a vault affects your line, and you can try again quickly.

The three trials

Three trials make up the game. The Play copy says so directly: "Three trials make up the game." Each one is a compact creature sanctuary.

Each sanctuary is small enough to learn by repeating it. The listing says: "Each trial is small enough to learn by running it again." That lets you learn where holds and sigils are, and which vault gives the cleaner line to the gate.

The brief confirms the MVP scope as "Three trials", "Time and collection medals" and "Ghost replay". It lists "Open world" and "Competitive multiplayer" as explicitly out of scope.

You finish a trial at the gate — "from the first hold to the gate".

Sigils, time medals and collection medals

As you cross a trial you collect sigils on the way. The listing says: "Collect sigils on the way, and reach the gate." The feature line says: "Three compact trials with sigils."

Each trial records two medals. The Play copy states: "Each one records a time medal and a collection medal."

The time medal reflects how quickly you reached the gate. The collection medal reflects how many sigils you picked up. The two are separate, so you can focus a run on speed, on collection, or try to improve both.

The brief lists "Time and collection medals" in the MVP. The fact on the page is the two medals per trial.

Checkpoints, restarts and the ghost

A checkpoint lets you restart quickly. The Play copy says: "A checkpoint lets you restart quickly." The feature line says: "Restart from a checkpoint."

This supports the "Fast restarts" pillar. If you miss a vault you restart from the checkpoint rather than beginning the whole trial again.

You can also watch a ghost of a previous run. The listing says: "A ghost of a previous run can play back through the trial, so you can watch the line you took." The feature line is: "Watch a ghost of a previous run."

The brief lists "Ghost replay" in the MVP and "Checkpoint and ghost systems" among the required systems. It also notes a "Deterministic reset/recovery path" so a run can start, finish, restart and recover in a predictable way.

Comfort, saves and where it runs

Settings and progress are saved on the device. The listing says: "Settings and progress are saved on the device." and "Your runs stay on the device."

Comfort options are included for the headset session. The copy says: "Comfort options are included for the headset session." The brief adds "Quest 2 performance and comfort presets" and "Comfort warning and calibration" with "No forced camera motion" among its acceptance criteria.

The game runs on the headset itself. The listing states: "The game runs on the headset itself. On a computer-linked headset, a desktop view shows the trial." That is the "Desktop spectator view for PCVR" in the brief, so someone not in the headset can see the trial. Your runs stay on the device.

The build notes describe a web-first approach with a hosted web build that has passed a smoke test. The target is Quest with a WebXR template, and the store queue notes a web-only build with an HTML5 zip ready for itch.io. Nothing has been submitted to a store yet.

Beastbound is listed as Coming soon at https://www.aeternusvita.io/en/products/beastbound.

Who it suits

Beastbound suits movement-game players who want a VR game where arms, momentum and a compact space are the focus.

It suits you if you like arm-powered traversal. The hook is "Arm-powered traversal through compact creature sanctuaries" and the feature is "Cross sanctuaries with your arms".

It suits you if you like learning a short trial by repeating it. "Each trial is small enough to learn by running it again" is in the main description. You can try a different vault, pick up a sigil you missed, or chase a better time or collection medal.

It suits you if you like quick retries with a clear way to compare. A checkpoint lets you restart quickly, and a ghost can play back so you can watch the line you took.

It suits you if you want a bounded session. Three compact trials, each with a gate and two medals. The brief keeps open world and competitive multiplayer out of scope.

It is less likely to suit you if you want a large world between runs or a head-to-head multiplayer match.

A note on movement in VR. Beastbound uses your arms to climb, swing and vault. Keep your play area clear, use the comfort options, take breaks, and stop if you feel uncomfortable. If you have questions about movement or health, speak to a qualified professional.

Coming soon and how to get notified

Beastbound is coming soon on aeternusvita.io. It is listed as Coming soon at https://www.aeternusvita.io/en/products/beastbound and has not been released or submitted to a store. There is no price, release date, rating or review to quote — the brief lists those as not yet decided and the store IDs as not yet assigned. The privacy page is noted as proposed and not live yet, to be published before any store review.

If you want to hear when it is ready, open Beastbound on the site and get notified from the product page. That is where you leave your details so you hear when it goes live.

You can read the short and long description there. They match the copy used in this post, because this post uses only facts from the brief and the Play listings. Three compact trials, from the first hold to the gate — coming soon. Leave your details on Beastbound if you want a note when it is available.